George Overhill

Mon 3 July 2023 17:10, UK

The latest developments in the Leeds United manager situation have illuminated the complicated summer the club created for itself, with Andrea Radrizzani and the 49ers bearing responsibility.

While the Whites continue to wait to announce Daniel Farke as the long-awaited successor to Sam Allardyce, with players returning from their summer holidays over the weekend to a situation without a new boss in place, his main competition for the role has landed another job and is under way.

The club are waiting for the EFL to formally ratify the sale from the previous owner to the new regime for making Farke’s arrival official, so the unveiling is delayed day by day until that point, which has already gone past their hope for the “very latest” deadline.

Bearing in mind that there was a deal in place for Radrizzani to sell to the 49ers this summer if Leeds United had stayed up months ago, with the top flight having long since ratified the agreement ready for a swift handover once the season ended, it becomes an increasingly glaring oversight that the same wasn’t sorted for a relegation scenario.

It suggests a bewildering amount of hubris if both the Italian and the Americans felt that such an eventuality would not come to pass, given it was only a narrow escape on the final day a year ago that saw it avoided, and there were few signs that it was going to be more comfortable across the recently-concluded campaign.

Instead, amid Radrizzani pursuing a deal to rescue Sampdoria it took 12 days past relegation being confirmed for the two sides to announce agreement of the 100% takeover on 9 June.

Phil Hay reported the same day that it would take “a number of weeks” for the league to officially give it the green light, and that is duly proving to be the case, but as The Athletic journalist pointed out on The Square Ball on Friday (30 June, 3m 20s) “it’s not their [the EFL’s] fault that there was no relegation provision in place”.

The current wait, “utterly tiresome” as Hay called it on Friday, could have been avoided if both sides had had the foresight to agree a deal months ago, or even during the final weeks of the Javi Gracia reign when the team’s form fell apart and the drop looked likely, and certainly during the brief Allardyce era when fans and journalists alike were bemoaning the lack of clarity around what might happen.

Now, illustrating the needless stasis that Leeds United currently find themselves in better than anything, with Farke still waiting in the wings while the club treads water in regards to the transfer window, is the announcement of one of the other leading candidates.

Patrick Vieira was officially unveiled as the new Strasbourg manager on Sunday (2 July), meaning that since Farke emerged as a contender to take over at Elland Road the former Crystal Palace boss has managed to enter the race, briefly become the favourite, be interviewed by the club and impress with a strong presentation, be bypassed for the role, find another one, and be confirmed, all while Leeds wait to announce Farke.

Of course, it doesn’t need to be catastrophic for the promotion push, and given the two-time Championship-winner with Norwich has had plenty of success in the second tier it might not prove to be a problem at all.

But it is clearly far from ideal, and the fact that those on the outside looking in could see the potential for delays and complications during a crucial summer coming a mile off as relegation looked increasingly inevitable it is a shame those in charge apparently did nothing about it.

Farke should (should) be made official within days, but given Gracia, Michael Skubala and Allardyce’s starts all arrived in sub-optimal conditions the Whites could have spared the German the same.

In other Leeds United news, a “determination” has emerged within returning players who are “going nowhere” and want to impress the new man whenever he does finally arrive.